


Coda

by Iamnamedsilence



Series: The Sickness of Spark [10]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Character Death Fix, Developing Relationship, Fix-It, Healing, JazzWaveWeek 2020, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-The Transformers: Unicron Issue 6 (IDW), Pre-Slash, They live because fuck you AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27060019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamnamedsilence/pseuds/Iamnamedsilence
Summary: The music sings now about surprise and about past challenges and curiosity. Jazz didn’t plan that. It just happened, but it is like it was easy to use music to get attention from someone named after sound. Seeing Soundwave is like seeing an old friend, only they were never friends in the first place. Maybe they will never be able to be friends, and this is all right, but Jazz is genuinely happy to see Soundwave across the square, among the mecha listening to him. He is happy to change the music to address it for this one mech, an act of respect for a rival, a little challenge, maybe.Come here, stay here, listen to me, talk to me.And Soundwave stays.
Relationships: Jazz&Soundwave, Jazz/Soundwave (Transformers)
Series: The Sickness of Spark [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1454044
Kudos: 17
Collections: Jazzwave Week 2020





	Coda

There is a certain beauty in not-knowing, in not-having-to. Freedom long lost, long gone, of going wherever you want, unbothered.

This freedom is a little bitter though. Some wounds will never heal, and the universe is full of empty spaces, holes, where something had been once: a planet, a person, a relationship. Nothing will ever be the same again.

In place of old destroyed things new ones need to be build – and those who survived had many different ideas of how to rebuild, so sooner or later the new tensions that are building up on top of the others will cause new problems. That is, he thinks, as he watches it, inevitable. Every society has its shortcomings, its problems, its differences. This is a process, but at least at the moment, all the universe has enough hope, that peace will prevail.

He also has hope. He had done enough terrible things because he believed they were necessary or because he believed they were or because he was just loyal to his friends and leaders. None of this is a valid excuse anymore, now the war is over, but no one expects from him doing those things anymore and he is relieved.

He has his freedom, his personal freedom. The price was high, but he is willing to make it worth it.

He sees the others around him struggling as well: everyone had lost someone. Some mecha just had to die and maybe the universe will be better without them – but it will be also more empty and everyone Jazz talks to acknowledges it, that there is a loss, a hole, an empty place everywhere they look, every time they turn around and expect their significant other – a comrade, a bondmate, an amica, a conjunx – will be there. But they are not. They died so the universe could exist, so they all had a chance for peace.

Sometimes Jazz thinks, that he should be the one to die as well. He had been close so many times, but he was always struggling to get out, loving his life too much, never having tendencies to sacrificing himself, and even often trying to stop the others from unnecessary sacrifices. But this time it sometimes feels unfair that he is still alive when so many others died.

But he still loves his life. He sees those who survived not only mourning their loved ones but also building and cherishing new bonds.

Someone once said to Jazz, that sentience means a need to bond: to have social circles and friends and families and spouses. To love and be loved. And isn’t that the truth? Isn’t now the time to build such bonds?

It seems to be because suddenly there are so many new amicas and conjunxes around – even among mecha, whom Jazz would never expect to enter such a relationship, because, come on, who would expect Ratchet, from all to ger married, but then it happens and Jazz has an opportunity to perform his music on his old friend’s wedding and he is happy and everyone around him is happy at this moment.

There are new bonds and other new things in the universe. Jazz visits the new planet and it scares him. It is not his home. Some of his former friends (and enemies) want to live here – some want to take control. But what is the worst are mecha living here – familiar faces or, what is even worse, no faces at all. He meets the other version of himself, looks this other Jazz into what once was his face, sees his reflection, sad and almost broken, but still strong. This other Jazz survived and there is still hope and strength in him. He will carry on and hopefully, the new world will be better for him. It is intriguing to exchange experiences with one’s alter ego and possibly they will keep in touch out of simple curiosity, but one Jazz per planet is just enough.

So, Earth is the place he is going to stay on. Here he has a chance to build something, and humans seem to like him because he is always friendly and is willing to listen and help and his love for music is something that makes him seem approachable. He uses this charm to win the exiles from the colonies as well. The Decepticons still usually don’t trust him, and he doesn’t expect them to. For them, he is still a scary shadow hiding in the dar, an assassin waiting to kill them. He is not going to force them to change their minds – this is not how it works. For now, it is enough they don’t try to get rid of him.

Some time passes and things seem to establish a little more. Not everything seems to be perfect, the social tensions growing again, mecha struggling with rebuilding a society and finding their new place. Some familiar faces reappear.

Jazz meets one of such faces when he least expects this. He performs in the middle of the newly established Enclave, just for love for music. The new electro-bass in his hands, the sun reflected in the freshly polished plating, Jazz just stands there and lets the music flow, improvising, as the Earth music genre that is named as he suggests. This is a melody of joy and the mecha and aliens inside the enclave stop there to listen, to find a moment of beauty and calm in their busy lives. Jazz loves it that he can give such a moment to them.

And then among the mecha who listen, he sees a face he was not expecting to see and a dissonant chord creeps into his music out of a sudden: because it is always a shock to see someone whom one expected to be dead and because there are still lines in Jazz’s coding that make him alert at the sight of his rival.

He picks this dissonance, twists it, and makes it a part of the melody, that shifts and changes. The other mech’s attention focuses on him now, and Jazz doesn’t know why. This was always a problem, a puzzle, a challenge, to guess what Soundwave is thinking, what he is planning.

How he is alive when everyone saw his frame turning to dust.

The music sings now abut surprise and about past challenges and curiosity. Jazz didn’t plan that. It just happened, but it is like it was easy to use music to get attention from someone named after sound. Seeing Soundwave is like seeing an old friend, only they were never friends in the first place. Maybe they will never be able to be friends, and this is all right, but Jazz is genuinely happy to see Soundwave across the square, among the mecha listening to him. He is happy to change the music to address it for this one mech, an act of respect for a rival, a little challenge, maybe.

Come here, stay here, listen to me, talk to me.

And Soundwave stays.

When Jazz finishes, the listeners leave back to their daily lives, but Soundwave is still there. His visor blinks with gold, his mask obscures his lips – if he has lips, this is always a problem with mecha who wear masks – his field is suppressed and hidden. He is an enigma.

He is also alone and Jazz remembers, that two of Soundwave’s symbionts died, that many of his friends either died or abandoned him, that the dream of the utopia on Sanctuary Station was crashed… and what happened with Megatron is a whole another story, but there is no possibility that Soundwave had just gotten over it.

He is alone, Jazz thinks.

He survived somehow, but most of his life didn’t.

He needs to rebuild – as do all of us, but…

Somehow this seems very tragic.

Across the square, they are looking towards each other, rivals for millennia, never friends.

Jazz is the one to approach because of course, he is.

He smiles.

“I’m happy to see you,” he says.

He knows Soundwave knows this is genuine. He might be surprised, but he is not suspicious. Jazz’s field and spark are wide open. He has nothing to hide.

Soundwave is silent for a long while before he nods.

“Greeting: appreciated,” he says.

So this is really Soundwave, not an impostor who changed his frame to look like the Decepticon master spy. And he still speaks in the same manner, his voice monotone, his emotions deeply hidden.

“And I appreciate you listened. Did you like it?”

“Jazz’s music: intriguing.”

Did he guess I played for him, Jazz thinks.

“Soundwave: knows now,” Soundwave adds and Jazz realizes that he had forgotten about this ability Soundwave has.

This could be awkward, but Jazz is not a mech, who lets things get awkward easily. He laughs.

“You had caught me! I was thinking too loudly!”

“Jazz: never does it without a purpose,” Soundwave remarks.

He was right. In the past, letting a thought slip was a perfect way to feed the opponent with the right information.

But they are not playing a spy game now.

“This time I didn’t,” Jazz admits. “But, I hoped to get your attention.”

“Querry: why?”

“Because I realized, I might have missed you, mech. The universe without you was a little empty… and because I want to know how you did survive and how you are doing,” Jazz smiles again. “Care to find a place to fuel?”

For a moment Soundwave just stands there, looking at him. Is he puzzled? Then he nods slowly.

“Soundwave: just finished his meeting. Invitation: accepted.”

“What meeting?” Jazz asks while he slides the cover on the precious electro-bass. He is not losing this instrument again.

“Agreements with Windblade: needs to be made.”

“Sooo, you are still a player?” Jazz asks, grinning widely.

“Sanctuary: requires rebuilding. Soundwave: needs resources.”

And he hopes Windblade will allow him the reconstruction of something that has a large purple Decepticon stamp on? The bold assumption, but worth a try. Windblade is not the one to discriminate, not now, despite the fact she still wears a red badge.

“I get it, mech. Admirable, if you want to know my opinion.”

And he knows, that for Soundwave rebuilding his station is just a beginning and that there must be another plan going on, and he can even suspect what kind of a plan it might be, but he doesn’t care and he is here not to stop Soundwave or to take his secrets: not anymore.

He is here because he felt this rush of happiness as he saw Soundwave across the square and because he doesn’t want to lose this feeling.

They go, on the Enclave’s streets, among the mecha from all the colonies, among the human and alien visitors.

Jazz already knows every place here and knows, where the fuel is the best, a unique blend prepared by the owner of the place. And he smiles, as Soundwave makes an order and as they sit across each other.

Not friends, but there is a chance.

Jazz wants to build new bonds.

**Author's Note:**

> I struggled. I had another thing planned for JazzWave week, but I couldn't get it right. I also have a longer JazzWave story in plans (part of the Sickness series as well, because reasons), but it was still not even outlined...
> 
> And then I was editing chapter 26 of Strangers in a Strange Land, where Jazz appears and he mentions having "some sort of a relationship" with Soundwave... so, this short story happened. I'm kind of happy with it.


End file.
